Ohio auditor, Dave Yost, has been asked to look at the books in Hamilton Township. Residents said there have been repeated violations, poor accounting practices and no checks and balances when it came to the books.

MONEY IS REALLY GOING? THOSE LIVING IN ONE WARREN COUNTY TOWNSHIP... SAY THEY DON'T. NOW THE STATE IS STEPPING IN TO HELP HAMILTON TOWNSHIP CLEAN UP ITS FINANCIAL MESS. WLWT NEWS FIVE'S KARIN JOHNSON... IS LIVE WITH THE SOLUTION... YOU VOTE ON A LEVY... YOU WOULD EXPECT THAT MONEY TO GO WHERE IT WAS PROMISED. WELL, SOME SAY THAT'S NOT HOW IT'S BEEN WORKING IN HAMILTON TOWNSHIP. NOW THE STATE AUDITOR IS STEPPING IN TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON. DISARRAY... THAT'S HOW RAY WARRICK AND OTHERS WHO LIVE HERE DESCRIBE HAMILTON TOWNSHIP'S FINANCES. (RAY WARRICK/HAMILTO N TOWNSHIP RESIDENT: we all have busy lives and we'd rather not be doing this, including me, but there are a lot of problems at every level) STATE AUDITOR DAVE YOST SAYS REPEATED VIOLATIONS, POOR ACCOUNTING PRACTICES, NO CHECKS AND BALANCES, AND CONCERNED RESIDENTS .... ALL BROUGHT HIM TO THE TOWNSHIP TODAY. (DAVE YOST/STATE AUDITOR: it's just like your viewers at home, not balancing their checkbook for a whole year. Ya know, do you have any money left? Well, I still have checks) YOST SAYS HE DOESN'T BELIEVE ANY MONEY IS MISSING... BUT HOW LEADERS HAVE SPENT TAXPAYER DOLLARS MAY BE A PROBLEM. (yost: so for example, if they come out to you as voters and say we want a road levy and it's going to raise 500-thousand dollars a year to fix our roads. That money can only be spent for road levies.) SAME WITH POLICE OR FIRE LEVIES---THAT MONEY MUST STAY WHERE IT WAS INTENDED. (YOST: we have a history here with problems of internal controls, with non compliance with some important budgetary laws) "FIXABLE PROBLEMS" HE SAYS. THE STATE IS STEPPING IN TO REVIEW THE TOWNSHIP'S BOOKS. (RAY WARRICK/HAMILTO N TOWNSHIP RESIDENT: you can't make decisions going forward about what you're going to do about spending money if you don't know really what money you have and in what account) HAMILTON TOWNSHIP IS NOT IN THE RED AND YOST SAYS ITS NOT A GOVERNMENT THAT'S LIKELY TO GO BANKRUPT. WE TRIED REACHING OUT TO TOWNSHIP LEADERS BUT CALLS WERE NOT RETURNED. KARIN JOHNSON, WLWT NEWS 5. THE STATE AUDITOR .... EXPECTS